Jobs council mostly mum on corporate tax plan

President Barack Obama’s jobs council isn’t ready to come out in support of his new corporate tax reform proposal.

Instead, most of the 27 business leaders Obama signed up last year for the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness have avoided taking a position in the week since the president announced the plan.

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That’s despite a consensus among the members in favor of cutting tax rates, the main thrust of Obama’s proposal. But the president’s decision to back a minimum tax on global earnings, going directly against his council’s recommendation, snubbed the advice of Jeff Immelt, the General Electric CEO and chairman of the jobs council.

“We support a broader tax base, lower statutory corporate tax rate and the adoption of a territorial tax system used by almost every other advanced economy, even if it means higher taxes for companies like GE,” said Deirdre Latour, a spokeswoman for the company.

The chemical company DuPont also expressed concerns about how Obama wants to tax its overseas profits.

“One area of continued focus for DuPont is territorial tax reform, an area that is not addressed in the tax plan,” said spokeswoman Michelle Reardon. “For U.S. companies to compete in domestic and foreign markets, we need a tax system that is competitive with those of foreign headquartered companies.”

POLITICO reached out to all 27 members of the jobs council. Of the 18 who responded, 15 companies — including Facebook, investment firm TIAA-CREF and cable provider Comcast — declined to comment on the plan. Among those who declined to comment were Obama campaign co-chair Penny Pritzker and venture capitalist John Doerr, a fellow top Obama donor. Robert Wolf, president of the UBS investment bank, said he hadn’t read the plan yet.

The proposal pays for the lower marginal rate by ending dozens of loopholes and subsidies. Oil and gas producers would lose their tax preferences. Companies could no longer use debt financing to avoid taxes. Business would no longer be able to deduct the depreciation of their assets as quickly as they currently do.

All of that has the potential to shake up the bottom line.

Boeing and Southwest Airlines said their teams are studying the financial impacts.

“Our folks are in the process of reviewing the plan as we speak — so too early to comment,” said Southwest Airlines spokesman Chris Mainz.

Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble referred questions to the Business Roundtable, a Washington trade group whose executive committee includes other companies on the jobs council: American Express, Boeing, GE and Xerox.

Readers' Comments (9)

The president's jobs council is mum for a reason. It's probably trying to avoid the situation wherein Obama claims to have proposed something that accommodates everyone, as he did with the Catholic Bishops.

Anyone who doesn't represent a key voting block for Obama is now just another Catholic Bishop to him.

And while the craven partisans at Politico highlight the latest gaffs and slights of the Candidates - our Campaigner in Chief continues to demonstrate his lack of Leadership on the critical National Issues of:

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